We design and deliver affordable, accessible, reliable, and simple-to-use technology serving the world’s 500 million smallholder and family farmers. The data from our sensor networks enable farmers to increase their financial and environmental sustainability.

Overview

Recognition

Intel Emerging Markets Award

The Intel Emerging Markets Technology Award was the other cash prize, apart from the top three places, given out at the 2014 GSVC. The selection is made based on companies that are bringing innovative technology to new frontiers.

Skoll Centre Venture Award

Odyssey Sensors was an inaugural winner of the ₤20,000 Skoll Venture Award in 2013. The annual awards are given to graduates of the University of Oxford whose ventures are deemed to have the most potential to create large scale social impact.

TATA Idea Idol

TATA Idea Idol is the flag­ship startup idea com­pe­ti­tion at the University of Ox­ford, with a three round format, culminating in a live pitch final with external judges. In February 2013, Odyssey Sensors was awarded the first place prize, out of a field of over 270 entrants. The prize amounted to ₤10,000.

Agri-Tech Catalyst

The £70 million Agri-Tech Catalyst is designed to support businesses and researchers in developing innovative solutions to challenges in the agri-tech sector. It is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and the Department for International Development. Odyssey Sensors was awarded ₤90,000 in February, 2015.

Global Social Venture Competition

The Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) awards businesses on the basis of their potential for positive real world impact. In 2014, GSVC received 600 entries from nearly 40 countries. Odyssey Sensors successfully made the final eight, placing second overall and winning $20,000.

Intel Global Challenge

The Intel Global Social Challenge is an annual competition, with over 20,000 entries in 2014 from 60 countries. Odyssey Sensors was one of 26 teams selected for the semi-final, making the final and placing in the top eight.

Our Team

Founders/Staff

Kevin Baum

Kevin is a co-founder, shareholder, and advisor to Odyssey Sensors. He is president and co-founder of Australian-based farm management application company, AgriWebb Pty. Ltd. (www.agriwebb.com). Previously, Kevin served in Arlington, Virginia as staff scientist at Strategic Analysis, Inc. (www.sainc.com), a consulting firm specializing in technical analysis, program management, contract R&D, and venture spin-out. Much of his work focused on fuel cells.Kevin earned an MBA and an MSc in Environmental Science at the University of Oxford and completed his undergraduate studies at Stanford University.

Chris Hunter

Chris is a co-founder and is currently acting CEO of Odyssey Sensors. He has been an advisor, operator and investor in agricultural and environmental companies throughout his career. He has extensive experience in the venture capital space with a focus on impact investment at LGT Impact Ventures and at Ecobrands Capital Partners. Chris also co-founded the Oxford University Seed Fund, an Africa-based farming business (Viridesco), and was a director of Belu Water Limited. Prior to Oxford, Chris studied at Pomona College, where he received his BA. He is a trustee of the Belu Foundation and the SEM Charitable Trust.

Stephen Honan

Stephen, the inventor of the salinity sensor, is a systems engineer and avid entrepreneur. A 2010 Truman scholar and a 2011 Fitzgerald scholar, Stephen studied engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy and geography and the environment at the University of Oxford. He has been recognized for his various inventions, including the IEEE President’s Change the World Competition and the Harvard Anwarul Quadir Competition for his sustainable arsenic filtration system for drinking water in Bangladesh. Recently, he was the youngest participant to speak at the 2013 TEDxOxbridge event.

Michael Thornton

Michael has a background in environmental engineering and policy and worked on green civil engineering projects for Sherwood Design Engineering. There he worked on green civil engineering design on projects around the world, from national parks to eco-resorts to cities. He has also co-founded non-profit focused on the developing world (Sherwood Institute). Michael was a Skoll Scholar at the Said Business School and received his dual Bachelors from Duke University.

Steve Smith

Steve Smith is Odyssey Sensors’ lead engineer. Steve has served as Chief Technology Officer for Sensor Industries and Vice President Hardware Engineering for Xirrus, Inc. His responsibilities at Odyssey Sensors include design of system architecture, development of all hardware and systems integrations from development through production. Steve leads Odyssey Sensors’ technical development initiatives and oversees the company’s software development activities. He received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University and is a veteran of the tech startup scene.

Advisors

Holden Bonwit

Holden has eight years of engineering and project management experience in bringing concepts to market, having designed, manufactured, and delivered hand-held unmanned air vehicles to all four military branches with AeroVironment. Transitioning to cleantech, he designed electric vehicle charges for the Nissan Leaf, and started a networking group for entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. After working in the startup environment for a few years, Holden broadened his skillset with an MBA focused in early stage ventures.

Jonathan Crouch

Jonathan Crouch is a venture partner with Deep Science Ventures in London where he brings the top scientific innovators (from London, Cambridge and Oxford universities, and elsewhere) together with industry experts and investors to discover opportunities and build the next generation of high growth science based ventures from scratch. Previously, Jonathan was founder and director of Agrinovis, a consultancy focused on building agribusiness solutions to drive international agricultural development. Jonathan’s background is immersed in cutting-edge bioscience research and entrepreneurship best practices that focus international investment on value chains that enhance rural livelihoods in low-income countries. Jonathan holds a BS in agricultural botany from the University of Reading, an MBA from London Business School, and a PhD in biotechnology & plant breeding from the University of East Anglia.

Matthew Scott

Matthew Scott is team leader at the Bank of England’s Environmental Risks, Prudential Regulation Authority responsible for climate change adaptation reporting. Previously, Matthew was a fellow at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford and a co-founder of Emerge Venture Lab, a social impact accelerator. He completed his undergraduate degree in physics at Manchester and earned an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Wayne Turner

Wayne H. Turner has more than 20 years experience leading start-ups, going concerns, and turn-arounds. His career has spanned a wide range of educational, environmental, and social endeavors in the United States and internationally, notably East Africa. In the early part of his career, Wayne built and led a public shellfish restoration and aquaculture project in New England. Later, Wayne served in a number of leadership capacities at Teton Science Schools in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and most recently as executive director of the Ashokan Center in New York.